In the making of hollow blown plastic articles such as containers, it has heretofore been suggested that labels be held in one or more of the mold sections by vacuum so that when the parison is blown outwardly into conformity with the cavity, the label becomes adhered or bonded to the article.
The molds are often provided in a plurality of sets of partible molds in a predetermined array and, in order to deliver the labels, a plurality of magazines are provided, one for each mold half, and an associated plurality of pick-up and delivery devices function to remove labels from the magazines and deliver them to one or both of the mold halves of each set.
As set forth in related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 707,335 filed Mar. 1, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,166 and having a common assignee with the present application, an apparatus is provided wherein labels are successively removed from a label magazine and positioned in an array which corresponds in spacing to the spacing of the sets of molds. The labels are then simultaneously moved in the array from the first position to a second position within the open partible molds and deposited in the molds. The apparatus comprises a magazine for supporting labels in a stack and an endless belt transfer device positioned adjacent the magazine. The belt is indexed in predetermined spaces corresponding to the spaces of the array of molds. A label pick-up device removes a label from the magazine and deposits it on the conveyor so that the spacing between the labels on the endless transfer conveyor corresponds to the spacing between the sets of molds. Another label deposit device removes the labels simultaneously from the endless transfer conveyor and delivers them between the open partible molds.
Where labels are to be cut from a roll of labels, problems arise because the free end of labels tends to move so that when a label is cut from the roll, the cut may not be square. These conditions are aggravated when the labels are made of plastic.
Accordingly, among the objectives of the present invention are to provide an apparatus for accurately severing a label from a roll of labels and delivering the label to a partible mold; a method and apparatus will deliver labels successively in an array to a plurality of partible molds; and which can readily be adjusted to sever and deliver labels of different sizes.
In accordance with the invention, the apparatus which comprises providing labels on a roll of labels, successively engaging the free end of the web of the roll of labels by a first endless vacuum conveyor, tensioning the portion of the web between a point upstream and the free end by the first endless vacuum conveyor, successively cutting a label on the free end from the remaining tensioned portion, transferring each label successively by moving the first endless conveyor adjacent a second endless vacuum conveyor which is transverse to the first conveyor, indexing the second endless conveyor to provide an array of labels on the second endless conveyor which corresponds in spacing to the spacing of the array of molds, engaging the array of labels and moving them from a first position adjacent said second conveyor to a second position within the partible molds and depositing the labels in the molds.